


The Strongest Among You

by willow_larkspur



Series: Gwen's Competition Fics [127]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Black Aurora Sinistra, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Death of a Random Death Eater, Guerrilla Gardening, Multi, Nonbinary Rolanda Hooch, The Hogwarts Resistance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willow_larkspur/pseuds/willow_larkspur
Summary: Neville joins the Resistance during the Occupation of Hogwarts.
Relationships: Neville Longbottom & Pomona Sprout, Pomona Sprout/Rolanda Hooch/Aurora Sinistra
Series: Gwen's Competition Fics [127]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1250309
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12
Collections: Monthly Challenges for All (2019)





	The Strongest Among You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheHecateA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHecateA/gifts).



> Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I’m just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn’t going to get you anything but tears.  
> Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There’s also talk of canon typical violence and exactly one character death (it’s a random Death Eater). Feel free to back out if need be.  
> Author’s Note: So I came across the idea of “guerilla gardening”, and well, I couldn’t not have the Hogwarts Resistance do it for reasons other than beautification. Oh, and it’s small, but Rolanda is nonbinary in this & uses “they/them” pronouns.

(^^)  
 **The Strongest Among You**  
(^^)

Neville watched carefully as Professor Sprout rolled the loam and flour mixture into balls no bigger than a snitch. Beside the Herbology professor, Hooch was rolling the created balls gently over the trays of seeds that had been as carefully chosen as runes in the ward arrays of Hogwarts. The smell of petrichor was strong in the air. Instead of choking him, it laid on the back of his throat like a war cry.

“Will you take over for Ro’, Neville?” Sprout asked. She tilted her head towards her partner, as if Neville didn’t already know that _Ro_ was short for _Rolanda_. Either way, he jumped into action, easily taking the hawk-eyed professor’s place in the assembling. Despite the war going on outside of this greenhouse, getting his hands on dirty and seeds again felt more like coming home than returning to Thistlewood ever had. He was doing something about the war finally, even if it was something small.

Green light flashed from Hooch’s wand as they cast protective spells over the finished seed bombs. It made his heart pound in chest to be so close spell-light of that color, even knowing that the spells had little in common with the Killing Curse. His anxiety had little to do with it, too. Ever since the Death Eaters had taken over the ministry and then Hogwarts, Neville had been caught in a loop of anticipation. As _the_ Longbottom of Longbottom, as his parents’ child, as Augusta’s ward, he was too much of a political target to be left alone.

Neville knew that they would come for him eventually. He knew that if he was lucky, he was merely green-listed. More likely, he would face a fate similar to his parents. His only hope was that the war would end quickly. His only desire was to go down with a snarl in his heart and a curse on his lips, like the Hufflepuff his mother had been.

The door creaked open suddenly, just enough to let Professor Sinistra slip into the workroom. She was as dark as the night skies she loved so much, and her dark green robes did nothing to lighten her figure. If her robes did not have tiny star bursts embroidered into her cuffs and collar, it would have been easy to miss her in a dark corridor. Neville’s skin broke out in goosebumps as he realized that had likely been the purpose of her wardrobe choice. His heart lurched when she greeted both Sprout and Hooch with a kiss.

“Breathe, Longbottom,” Sinistra ordered as she turned her dark eyes to him finally. “You’ll trigger a panic attack if you don’t.” He gasped a breath, exactly as he was told. Sinistra smiled at him beatifically as she continued coaxing him back to the present. “Just focus on getting the seeds onto the balls. There’s a lad.”

Once he was breathing regularly, she joined the assembly line next to Hooch. Her spells were bursts of silver tinged with the pale green of spring sprouts. The sharp-toothed grin she gave every time she cast should not have comforted him as much as it did.

(^^)

A month later, Neville coaxed a couple of Gryffindor first-years through the lush garden of green plants that covered this part of the grounds entirely. The larger of the two eyed the hanging vines of Devil’s Snare with an appropriate amount of wariness. The smaller showed how fitting her Sorting was by reaching out to actually _pet_ a Venomous Tarantula Vine as they passed it. Thankfully, whatever spells Hooch had imbued into the seeds worked and the plant didn’t attack.

Behind them, Neville could hear the outermost Devil’s Snare taking care of the Death Eater that had been pursuing them. The speed and viciousness it had to be using to make those sounds proved that Sinistra’s spells were working just as well as Hooch’s. It only took a moment before the sounds of cursing and useless bursts of fire stopped.

Neville’s relieved grin matched Sinistra’s just a little bit more than it had when he first joined the Hogwarts resistance.

**Author's Note:**

> Submitting Info:  
> Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A  
> Individual Challenges: Rainbow Focus; More than England; Sapphic Bribery; Cete; No Heterosexual Explanation; Love Language; Point of Know Return; Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC (x2); Slytherin MC; 3rd Rule Bribery (HP Edition) (Y); Poly Bribery; Seeds; Shipmas; No Proof; Golden Times; Interesting Times; Old Shoes (Y); The 3rd Rule; Lovely Triangle; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Flags & Ribbons; Gender? Who That?; Hold the Mayo; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift  
> House: Hufflepuff  
> Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 4  
> Subject (Task No.): Public Services (Task#3: Write about a hands-on experience.)  
> Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [24] (Petrichor); 365 [126] (Goosebumps); Gwen’s Candy Shop [Bowl 2](Anxiety); Baking King Cakes [Step Two](Peas)  
> Other MC4A Challenges: Wi Bingo [3A] (Nuts/Seeds); Winter Big (Secret Relationship)  
> Representation(s): Neville Longbottom with Anxiety; Heavens & Earth (Sprout/Hooch/Sinestra); Black Aurora Sinestra; Nonbinary Rolanda Hooch; Hogwarts Resistance  
> Bonus Challenges: Sweetest Burn; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Broom’s Only; Car in a Tutu; Clio’s Conclusion; Three’s Company; Lovely Coconuts; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Casper’s House; Corvid Brain; Hot Apple; Under the Bridge; Where Angels Fear; Over the Hills); Chorus (Endless Wonder; Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow’s Shade; Unicorn; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Surprise!; Infinity; Turtle-Duck; Call Me Dantes; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach)  
> Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble); SN (Rail); LiCK (Amaranth; Yarrow); FR (n/a); O3 (Oath); SS (Schooner; Shadow); RoIL (Workstation); FIN (Ensanguine; Imprecate); AD (Association); DP (Terse)  
> Word Count: 685


End file.
